LE Sci-Rim: A Science Fiction Skyrim Overhaul

[JRVanEsbroek]

Hey all!

 

Name's Jay. And while I may have experience as a digital artist, I'm no 3D Modeler or Skyrim Modder.

 

What I am as far as any Skyrimming goes is an idea dood.

 

Now, this is an idea I've been cooking up for a while that I think could be a pretty rad overhaul for Skyrim.

 

As the title says: Sci-Rim.

 

What it is:

 

A head-to-toe repaint of Skyrim bringing it from the universe of dirt-stained fantasy and magic, to a sleek Guardians-of-the-Galaxy style science-fiction future universe.

 

The game's story would still remain the same more-or-less, but there would be new art that would give the world that nifty Star Trek look.

 

All of the current environments, equipment, NPC's, etc. would be re-arted to fit in to the new time period. I have each of my ideas in a category listed below!

 

Lore:

 

All of the lore would remain the same for the most part! The only things that would need changing would be like, "Iron" and "Steel" and such would need to be acronyms for some kind of computer brand. Or just straight-up names of them. So when a person says "Forget all that elven nonsense, iron and steel is what you need!" it'd be the equivalent of saying "Forget all that Mac nonsense, Windows and Linux is what you need!"

 

Different 'Metals' would basically be different brands.

 

Books would still be books, they'd just look more clean and sleek.

 

Money would be Credits, which can be drained from other user accounts using your 1337 haxxoring skills.

 

The Elder Scrolls would still be that. Elder Scrolls. They've survived through a few thousand years, they can survive through a few thousand more.

 

The Dragonborn is still the Dragonborn, no changes there. The Greybeards are still the Greybeards, only far more ancient. There's still some magic here and there, obviously. It's not 100% Sci-Fi. More like 80%.

 

Skills:

 

Not really a skill but I figure it'd go here: Inventory. Your Inventory is a personal storage system that holds items in the form of Datastructure, or "Datastruct." Every object you see in the world has the potential to be Datastructed into your inventory. Increasing your Stamina increases your ability to process larger quantities of Datastructed material, thus increasing your inventory space. This explains how you can possibly carry 680 dragon skulls at once.

-Health is still Health

-Magicka is RAM, which allows for more Technomancy processes to be run for longer periods

-Stamina is Disk Space, which allows for more inventory as said above, and more physical actions to be carried out by your rad cybernetics.

 

Sneaking would still be Sneaking. Laying low, keeping out of sight of security systems and sentient creatures. Nothing new here!

 

Lockpicking would be Security, working your way through security systems. The lockpicking minigame wouldn't really need to change, just write some dinky lore about how security doors all have a similar locking interface or something I dunno. I just hear that minigame is really hard to reprogram so y'could always just leave it.

 

Pickpocket would be Hacking, the ability to Watch_Dogs your way into people's accounts and steal items from their person or Credits from their bank account, including the ability to completely un-datastruct the very armor they're wearing and steal it.

 

Speech would be Banking, the better understanding of merchantile systems throughout Sci-Rim, and a higher quality bank-account as you put perk-points in, giving you better Credit Limits (AKA: 1000 more Credits on every vendor).

 

Magic schools would all be Technomancy, explained below.

 

One-Handed, Two-Handed, Archery, and Block would all still be the same. Combat hasn't changed. Explained below in "Weapons!"

 

Environments:

 

Some of the more civilized cities such as Whiterun would be overhauled with a clean metallic look, white and black with bright blue LED's here and there, and TV screens displaying current news events and such.

 

The less civilized places like Riften would have a more dark and Fallout-style look, ratty and swampy with sheet-metal and broken walkways and hanging sparking wires to and fro.

 

Draugr ruins would be similar to Vaults in the Fallout series, full of malfunctioning robots and irradiated mutants.

 

Falmer ruins would look like "The Real World" in the Matrix trilogy, savage robots that use sentients for fuel to build their armies all over, with pods full of humanoid creatures all over the walls.

 

Uppity Thalmor embassies and such would be like embassy-buildings from Deus Ex, all flashy and clean and modernized like some futuristic super-lab.

 

While Dwemer Ruins, keeping to the theme of them being more technologically advanced than the rest of the world, would hold almost alien technology that has the ability to bend light, with robots that look like EVE from Wall-E. It'd be like walking into an Apple store from the year 2580 after the Apple Uprising [The Apprising] of 2525.

 

Magic = Technomancy:

 

Seeing as Magic is something more along the lines of fantasy, a new version of it would have to come along for Sci-Rim's sci-fi time-period. I call it Technomancy.

 

Technomancy is a constantly evolving study of extreme software-creation, using that software to do various things, including but of course not limited to combat.

 

Alteration, for example, would be Firewalls. The art of creating software that enhances your personal shields or creates big rad looking data-shields to prevent harmful Technomancy from reaching you.

 

Restoration would be Antiviruses, Technomancy that specializes in removing harmful Technomancy.

 

Destruction would be Viruses, Technomancy that's written to cause harm to any creatures with cybernetic implants (pretty much everything in Sci-Rim).

 

Illusion would be Proxies, Technomancy that specializes in hiding your cybernetics from other creatures.

 

Enchanting would be Circuitry, and each Circuit you insert into a piece of equipment would have three parts.

- The Equipment

- The Data (Which enchantment you want to put on said equipment, data being anything you've learned from reverse-engineering [disenchanting] any circuits)

- The Circuit (Soul Gems. These would be data chips containing the Operating System of any creature you Datamined [soul Trapped])

 

Staves would basically end up being replaced by laser guns. Yep. Laser guns. There's really nothing more to it I mean come on, LASER GUNS.

 

Dragon Shouts would be just that, Dragon Shouts. Just because we're in the future doesn't mean the Dragonborn isn't still shouting Fus Ro Dah at people.

 

Weapons:

 

Weaponry would obviously be more technologically advanced. Less blades, more lasers.

 

Swords would basically be Lightsabers. An Iron Broadsword would be your typical run-of-the-mill beam-saber, while a Glass Broadsword would be more similar to a katana with a neon glowing blade, and a Daedric or Dragon Broadsword would be a big intimidating fire-spitting blade with lightning arcing off of it.

 

Axes would be wrist-mounted blades, kinda like that wrist-thingy from Mass Effect. Forgot what that was called, you know the one. These would range from electrified Assassin's Creed wristblades, to the Beam Sword from the Halo series.

 

Maces wouldn't really need to change much except for their base designs. Sometimes, the best way to beat a robot is to literally beat a robot.

 

Bows would be replaced by wrist-mounted guns that fire darts, kinda like the old Deus Ex crossbow. That, or, y'know, just regular guns, but I don't know how we'd explain retreiving bullets from a corpse after you shot them. I mean it's not like you can just pull it out like an arrow or a crossbow bolt.

 

Shields are just that, shields. Only more glowy and sleek and cool looking. And maybe wrist-mounted instead of being held on the back.

 

Races:

 

All the races, lore, etc. in the game is the same, only very minor tweaks would need to be made to ensure everything still lines up. For the most part, every race would just look less I dunno... Bethesda? And would look a little more Final Fantasy.

 

A few races who are normally magically affiliated would fit in with the new Technomancy version of magic, so they'd be more likely to have cool cybernetic eyes or hairstyles that have USB cable dreadlocks or glowing hair strands.

 

While races like Argonian and Khajiit would be more likely to have junky lookin' mechanical limbs and laser-sight attachments next to their eyes like the Predator.

 

Less big noses and ratty hair, more neon colored lipstick and cool anime hair with unnatural colors like black with purple streaks.

 

Less dirt stains and messy face paint, soot stains and sleek rad-looking tattoos.

 

Les wrinkly-ass orcs, more... uhhh... Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy but with tusks?

 

Creatures:

 

Abiding with the game's current story, Dragons are still the big looming threat, giant mechanical monstrosities that pulled a Skynet back in the day and mass-produced themselves. Now, 'PROJECT ALDUIN' has come back online for some reason and he's here to reinstall his dragon army. Nothing would really need to change about them other than their looks. They could have big rad lightning-ridden neon wings, or if an animator was really rad with the modding power they could straight up give 'em VTOL wings and missile launchers. It'd be rad.

 

A few of the more primitive creatures like Mudcrabs and Goats would still be around. Y'not gonna get rid of Mudcrabs and Goats, c'mon.

 

Other feral beasts like wolves, sabrecats, and bears could be escaped genetic test subjects from some facility somewhere in Skyrim.

 

Ghosts would basically be forgotten software products that gained sentience and are attempting to invade your operating system. Creepy lookin' fuzzy staticky blurs of ones and zeroes with glitchy animations and audio patterns.

 

The undead would be corpses that had enough cybernetic implants to keep on going after death, or irradiated mutants from bio-weapon attacks.

 

Spiders would be mechanical spiders. Because c'mon, mechanical spiders that spit glowing green goo are rad.

 

Armor:

 

Armors in the game would be the biggest change from vanilla Skyrim to Sci-Rim's sleek new futuristic look.

 

Caster Armor would start off being your basic town clothing, t-shirts and shorts and the like; and in lieu of being what Technomancers wear, it would evolve through the ranks of outfits you'd think Hackers would wear. Early to Mid-game caster outfits would look like engineer outfits, things like utility-belts and cool form-fitting leotards with shorts and comfy shoes. Mid to Late-game caster gear would be far more technologically advanced, fitted with LED's, looking like something out of TRON Legacy, or like Zero Suit Samus.

 

Light Armor would start off as kinda wasteland-lookin' stuff. Fur Armor and the like would be replaced by hoodies and baggy pants, whereas Leather Armor would look more like a futuristic biker jumpsuit, and down the line it'd get more and more form-fitting and sleek, making you look like a proper space-ninja, complete with Sam Fisher goggles.

 

Heavy Armor would start off looking like your typical space soldier armor, camo and tactical helmets and goggles and such, and would advance down the line into full Stormtrooper style plated armor, and eventually to rad bulky Space Marine or Brotherhood of Steel power-armor.

 

Flora:

 

Being a sci-fi world means a sci-fi environment. This means old redwood trees and snow aren't really all that fitting anymore.

 

Alien plantlife covered in bioluminescent glowing bulbs and giant mushrooms would be scattered about, everything looking like Pandora from James Cameron's Avatar.

 

Alchemy would take a new approach as Gene-Crafting. You'd no longer pick flowers, but would instead extract DNA from plants and small animals to mix together in lab research to try and create Gene Enhancers (Potions) or Bio Weapons (Poisons).

 

Sex Appeal:

 

What's a giant overhaul of the art of the world without taking the dirty gritty look of Skyrim and making it sleek and sexy like Mass Effect?

 

If this project ever gets a team working on it, I implore you guys to work with the CBBE or Dimonized or SevenBase bodies as a default for the whole project. Why? Because it's Sci-Fi! Sci-Fi either goes in one of two directions, post-apocalyptic or clean-n-sleek. The ideal Sci-Rim is leaning heavily towards the second one. If I wanted it to be post-apocalyptic I'd just play Fallout, or Wasteland, or any of the bazillion games already made to be post-apocalyptic and dirty.

 

This isn't a dirty and gritty and oily future for Tamriel, it's a clean and sleek and pretty future for Tamriel. Nuclear War hasn't happened. Yet anyway.

 

This is cute girls in skin-tight suits with laser katanas, not dirty space vikings with giant beards.

 

Final Note:

 

I leave the design ideas here as an open-letter to anyone who would like to put together a team and make Sci-Rim a reality. I claim no ownership of anything, and I don't even care if you guys get all kinds of donations and I get squat. I'd just be happy knowing it became a reality.

 

Just, y'know. Say "Original Sci-Rim Concept by Jay Van Esbroek" on the project's homepage or something. So I can tell all my friends I thought of it and they'll believe me. Otherwise, idea's all yours. Enjoy!

[ariel3]

THIS. LOOKS. AWESOME. And if someone mix this mod with "Alternative death: captured" (A mod in which you can be enslaved by the Falmer) it could be even more awesome. Something like this: If you dont please your masters they will put you in one of the chamber, and then you fell asleep and when you wake up you have an extreme negative effect. That would be awesome... Also vampires can be something like borgs, and they would have less "BLOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!" and more "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!!!" lines.

Anyway, i cant do nothing, but if someone does something like this i would instantly download the mod. (Sorry for bad english)

Edited December 22, 2014 by ariel3

[VanKrill]

How do you plan to solve the problem of star ships and space travel?

 

It is easy to create a ground based scifi experience out of a sword and sorcery game, fire balls and blaster bolts are similar, and armor and vac suits can be easily swapped.

 

But a Horse and an Xwing fighter, or a floating maintenance pod approaching the exterior of a star ship is another matter.

 

I am currently working on such a mod, but have taken a break, while I hon my mod making skills on a more mundane skyrim mod, because I found those items very hard to solve.

 

-

[VanKrill]

I did find some interesting facts.

 

The construction kit has six variables with the word Gravity in them:

fArrowGravityBase 0.3
fArrowGravityMin 0.05
fArrowGravityMult 0.002
fArrowWeakGravity 1.75
fPerkHeavyArmorSinkGravityMult 15.0
fSprayDecalsGravity 128.0

 

 

So, it looks like you might be able to affect the mechanics of Arrows to a null gravity simulation of flight.

 

You could assign meshes to stand-in arrow projectile objects, which used to represent the object in zero-gravity space around the players fixed location cockpit. There might even be some way to deflect them, or change their coarse. Disable one arrow and launch another from the first's location on a new track.

 

You could use script moved and positioned movable static objects as well. But I've already experimented with this approach, and it is buggy, jerky, and limited at best.

 

Or you could make a sophisticated Animated Picture Frame, which shows a one or more overlaid canvas of fixed position model screen shot, indicating the movement by scrolling through long series of overlaid objects. But you're making a clumsy 2D display in a 3d virtual game.... a real hack.

[yagamijase]

What about a shout of this?

It could have the same effect as Fus Ro Dah or do something else completely different. Like instantly reduce them into a pile of ash. Since it's only one word being yelled, maybe someone can stretch out the sound of Kirk yelling "Khan!" so that it would cover all three words like for normal shouts. The best way I can visualize that into words would be like:

 

First word: Khaaaa-

Second word: -aaaa-

Third word: -aaaan!

Edited January 27, 2015 by yagamijase

[Soulforge89]

This actually does sound pretty cool! :)

[humannature66]

She's waiting in Halo's Aether for the new world ... her wardrobe full of Leather & Latex outfits ... :cool:

http://www.ld-host.de/uploads/thumbnails/18187890271b599e8a58252e2e567ad9.jpg